


Fear

by iwritesomestuffsometimes



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Diego Hargreeves Needs A Hug, Diego Hargreeves is Bad at Feelings, Diego's Traumatic Backstory, Drunkenness, Gen, Luther Hargreeves is a Dick, Protective Klaus Hargreeves, Reginald Hargreeves' A+ Parenting, Trauma, fears
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-29
Updated: 2019-03-29
Packaged: 2019-12-26 06:41:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,452
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18277883
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iwritesomestuffsometimes/pseuds/iwritesomestuffsometimes
Summary: The problem with siblings is that you’re always going to be competitive with them. It gets worse the more siblings you have. There’s only so much time in the world and if you have six siblings there just isn’t enough time for all of you. So it’s no surprise that the Hargreaves siblings were some of the most competitive people ever. Their dad would only acknowledge the best of them so you had to become the best if you wanted any attention. This led to the development of many games. But all of the Hargreeves favourites was Fear. It was a simple game. All you did was sit in a circle and say what you afraid of. The person with the most fears lost and the person with the least fears won. It doesn’t sound like fun but for the Hargreeves it was perfect. They could talk but it was still a competition. Not to mention it gave them a look at their weaknesses.It was 2019 and the Hargreeves had grown up by now. They had made slightly better choices concerning Vanya but they weren't any less competitive. It had almost gotten worse now that Vanya had joined them. So it was no surprise to any of them that one night after Allison had had a couple of drinks that she brought up Fear.





	Fear

The problem with siblings is that you’re always going to be competitive with them. No matter how much you love them or how in sync you are you will always have to compete in something. It gets worse the more siblings you have. There’s only so much time in the world and if you have six siblings there just isn’t enough time for all of you. So it’s no surprise that the Hargreaves siblings were some of the most competitive people ever. Their dad would only acknowledge the best of them so you had to become the best if you wanted any attention. This led to the development of many games like dare or dare which kept going until someone finally backed down. But all of the Hargreeves favourites was Fear. It was a simple game. All you did was sit in a circle and say what you afraid of. The person with the most fears lost and the person with the least fears won. It doesn’t sound like fun but for the Hargreeves it was perfect. They could talk but it was still a competition. Not to mention it gave them a look at their weaknesses. 

 

It was 2019 and the Hargreeves had grown up by now. They stopped an apocalypse and had made slightly better choices concerning Vanya but that doesn’t mean they were any less competitive. It had almost gotten worse now that Vanya had joined them. It was just one more person who could outshine all of them. So it was no surprise to any of them that one night after Allison had had a couple of drinks that she brought up Fear. 

 

“We haven’t played it since Ben died. It will be fun to see how we’ve changed. Come on….” 

 

“It could be kind of fun” Luther agreed.

 

“I mean I never played but it seems like fun I guess?” Vanya said still kind of unsure about this whole thing

 

“I’ll only do it if Ben wants to do it,” Klaus said with a little sigh. Ben would never agree to play this game. It just doesn’t make sense. What would a spirit even be afraid of? 

 

“I want to do it, Klaus,” Ben muttered. And Klaus couldn’t help but think that it had to be because Ben secretly hated him.  

 

“I mean it seems childish and useless but I’ll do it.” Five said who had also had a few drinks. 

 

“Deigo? You’re the only one left.” Vanya said. 

 

“I don’t want to play this stupid game. Never. And for that matter, I think there are more important things to do than sit and play a stupid game.” 

 

“Please Diego,” Klaus said pouting.

 

“Fine. But only this once” 

 

“All right. It’s party time.” Allison slurred. “Hold on. Do you guys remember the rules?” 

“We all go around and name a fear. Whoever runs out of fears first wins. Whoever has the most fears loses. And we all have to take a shot every time we name a fear. And Allison does her weird ass rumour thing to make sure that none of us are lying or cheating. ” Five recited. 

 

“Hell no. I don’t remember Allison being part of the rules before.” Diego said shooting up to his feet. 

 

“Well yeah. That’s cause we were too stupid to think of it as a kid.” Luther muttered.

 

“Well, I don’t want to then.” 

 

“Too bad. You don’t get to go be emo now. You already said you would play and you don’t get to ruin it for the rest of us now.” Allison slurred, waving her beer to emphasize her point. 

 

“All right. Let’s go.” Vanya said practically bouncing in her seat. 

 

“Okay. Give me a second. I heard a….” Allison burst into laughter. 

 

“I heard a rumour…” Allison paused. “How do I word it?” 

 

“Well, don’t leave any loopholes. So something like I heard a rumour that we all followed the rules of the game completely.” 

 

“Okay. I heard a rumour that all of us including me followed the rules of the game completely and totally without using any loopholes. Now, who starts?” 

 

After a few minutes of no one volunteering, Klaus surprised all of them by raising his hand. 

 

“I’ll start.” 

 

“I’m afraid fo the dark. Cause of the mausoleum and all that jazz.” 

 

Continuing in the circle brought Ben next. 

 

“I’m afraid of fading completely.” 

 

“I’m afraid of the future.” Five said with a shudder. 

 

“I’m afraid of being powerless again,” Vanya whispered as if she said it any louder an evil spirit would make it come true.

 

“I’m afraid of being alone,” Luther muttered. 

 

“I’m afraid of being forgotten.” Allison slurred or at least something along those lines. She probably had way too much to drink but no one was going to try to stop her. 

 

“I’m afraid of…” Diego trailed off for a second. “I’m afraid of all of you dying.” 

 

The words were coming faster now. Once they had made a full circle they had started to loosen up. 

 

“I’m afraid of spiders.” 

 

“I’m afraid of you guys dying. And that’s all of my fears.” 

 

“No way.” 

 

“I mean to be fair, he is dead.” 

 

“I’m afraid of snakes.” 

 

“I’m afraid of losing control again.” 

 

“I’m afraid of Allison dying.” 

 

“I’m afraid of losing my daughter.”

 

“I’m afraid of death.” 

 

“I’m afraid of going back in time again.” 

 

“I’m afraid of the Handler finding us again.” 

 

“I’m afraid of no one remembering me.” 

 

“I’m afraid of going back to the moon.” 

 

“I’m afraid of running out of alcohol,” Allison said and then knocked the bottle onto the ground. It exploded into a shower of glass and liquid spilling onto the floor. 

 

“More drinks,” Allison said and stood up swaying dangerously. “Come on Ben. Let’s let these losers keep playing while we get some. Cause I’m done too.” 

 

“Go make sure she doesn’t fall down the stairs and die. We don’t want anyone to have to face their fears tonight.” 

 

“Okay. Diego, it’s your turn again.” 

 

“I’m afraid of public speaking.” 

 

“I’m afraid of loud noises.” 

  
“I’m afraid of flying.” 

 

“I’m afraid of talking to people.” 

 

“I’m afraid of bugs.” 

 

“We’re back,” Allison said stumbling up the stairs clutching her prize of two bottles. 

 

“Perfect. Want to pour me a large one cause I’m all done.” Luther said reaching for Allison or maybe for the bottle. It was hard to tell. 

 

“I’m afraid of bowling.”

 

“I’m afraid of heights.” Five slurred reaching for the other bottle. “I think I should get this whole bottle. Cause I’m not afraid anymore.” 

 

“Is that his way of saying he’s done?” 

 

“Shouldn’t someone stop him before he gets alcohol poisoning?” 

 

“He’ll be fine.” 

 

“I’m scared of myself.” 

 

“I’m scared of needles.” 

 

“I’m scared of dad.” 

 

“Cheers.” 

 

“I’ll drink to that.” 

 

“I’m scared of small spaces.” 

 

“I’m scared of h...h-hurting people.” 

 

“Isn’t your whole power about hurting people?”

 

“And your point is? Vanya is scared of herself.” 

 

“Vanya isn’t as afraid of all of you. Hey, Allison give me some of that.” 

 

“I’m afraid of small spaces too.” 

 

“I’m afraid of being m...m-mind controlled.” 

 

“I’m afraid of losing everyone I love.” 

 

“I’m afraid of b…b-bathtubs.” 

 

“Why?” Five asked swinging around so he was facing them again.

 

“None of your b..b-business.” Diego snapped. 

 

“I know how we can find out,” Allison yelled. “I heard a rumour…”

 

“F…f-fuck off.” Diego snarled and stomped out of the room. 

 

“What’s his problem?” Luther snarled. “It was a harmless prank.” 

 

Ben shook his head. “Did any of you hear the part where he said he was scared of being mind controlled or were you too busy drinking entire bottles of wine?” 

 

“I didn’t think it was that bad,” Allison muttered. 

 

“Besides, who is even afraid of something as stupid as that?” Luther snapped. “I wouldn’t have taken it seriously. In fact, I don’t.” 

 

Klaus shook his head. “None of you remember do you?” 

 

He looked around at all of their blank faces. 

 

“Fine. I’ll tell you the story of Diego Hargreaves.” 

 

“His story starts the same as the rest of ours. With his birth and then Reginald purchasing him like a cow to the slaughter. Or whatever. But pretty soon on, it turned out he was different.”

 

“We’re all different. Can you get to the point?” Luther demanded.

 

“I’m getting there. You just need some back story.” 

 

“Anyway, you may be different cause of your powers or whatever. Luther’s a monkey and Five’s 58-year-old in a 13-year-old boy’s body. We get that but Diego is different from all of us.” 

 

Allison sighed loudly. “This is boring,” she whined. 

 

“Can you do it with sock puppets?” Vanya yelled sounding way too excited about these sock puppets. 

 

“I like sock puppets” Ben cheered. “I think we should hold a vote.” 

 

“No. We are not doing a vote because I am not using sock puppets.” 

 

“As I was trying to say, Diego is different because unlike most of you he actually gives a fuck about his family. And more than just one member of the family. It’s like his fatal flaw or something. It kinda screwed him up though because dear old dad figured that out real quick.” 

 

Klaus paused. 

 

“You know how Dad was so obsessed with all of us reaching our full potential? Well, Diego didn’t really care about any of that. We all had our days for training and different attempts to make us into the perfect child soldier. So one day when he was thirteen, Dad decided that the thing that Diego needed to work on the most was the fact he wasn’t a mindless psychopath willing to kill anyone who annoyed him. He did this by exploiting his weakness.” 

 

“Wait. I think I remember that. At least a little bit. Diego didn’t want to kill people. So Dad would bring in someone and Diego was supposed to kill them. And to make sure he would do it, he would bring one of us into the room with him and if he refused to kill them Dad would hurt us instead.” Vanya said. 

 

“Exactly. So after like a couple of days of Diego refusing to kill people and Dad hurting us just a little bit, Diego got tired of all of this. Now I was in the room when it happened cause it was my turn to be the guinea pig. So Diego refused to kill the guy. Dad went to punch me or something. And then Diego yelled something. And Dad turned around. Diego said something along the lines of “Wait. Don’t hit him.” He picked up one of his knives and Dad was so excited because he thought Diego was finally going to do it. Instead, Diego stabbed himself through the hand. Like all the way through his hand pinning it to the table. Dad was unimpressed and he turned around back to me. Then Diego picked up another knife and threw it. At Dad. Unfortunately, Dad wasn’t that injured but it was the last straw for him. He refused to let anyone fix Diego’s hand.”

 

“Right. I sewed it up for him using a needle and thread.” Allison said. “He wouldn’t tell me what it was for though.” 

 

“He told me,” Ben said. “He said it was as a reminder to never let him become a monster. Like, Dad.” 

 

“This doesn’t explain anything,” Luther complained. “He defied Dad and got in trouble. We all did it.” 

 

“No, we didn’t. We would do whatever dad told us to do. We defied him in little ways and we never tried to hurt dad.” Allison said. 

 

“So anyway one day at breakfast like a week later, Diego wasn’t there. Dad said that he had gotten hurt during training but I knew it was more than that. So I snuck into his room. And what I saw terrified me. He was lying there so still I thought he was dead. He had all these wires coming out of his head. Like not the ones you see in movies. Like the ones mom has. Pogo saw me and shooed me out of the room but I didn’t really understand what any of that meant.” 

 

Ben shuddered. 

 

“They cut into his head and made him more like mom didn’t they?” Five said. 

 

“Bingo. Dad decided he was just too much work so just make him a robot instead.” Klaus went to reach for the bottle but then stopped. 

 

“Dad wouldn’t do that. He may have been a sadistic bastard but he loved us.” Luther snarled. 

 

“No, he didn’t. He cared about you.” Vanya snapped. “What happened?” 

 

“Well, Ben and I realized something was weird pretty soon but I didn’t know how to fix it. After two years, I finally figured it out. After Ben died, I realized I couldn’t lose another brother. So the next mission Dad let us go on I finally made my move. During the mission, I threw a chair at him. So he was distracted. Then I just hit him on the head a bunch. There were sparks going everywhere. It was a mess. He was out for like three weeks. I don’t know why but dad never tried to fix it or anything. Or maybe he tried but couldn’t. Either way, good old Diego was back. And none of you noticed. He had no memory of these two years that he lost. He didn’t even know that Ben died. So that’s why Diego’s scared of being mind controlled and why you are all assholes.” 

 

“I didn’t know though.” Allison protested. 

 

“Exactly. You just didn’t notice. Doesn’t make it any better.” 

  
  


“We were kinda busy dealing with our own problems.” Luther snapped. 

 

“What exactly was so bad you didn’t notice that one of your brothers was being mind controlled?” 

 

“It’s not their fault,” Ben whispered. “You’re still mad at dad but they were just kids. They didn’t know any better.” 

 

“I know. But it’s stupid. And unfair.” 

 

“I didn’t know it was that bad,” Vanya said. “I mean it’s Dad so you can assume it’s bad but it wasn’t that bad was it?” 

 

“It really wasn't,” Diego said stepping up from the bottom of the stairs. But I mean you guys have suffered more so it’s n...n-Nothing.” 

 

“It’s not nothing. It’s you. That makes it something.” Vanya said. 

 

The thing about having siblings is that they’re always there. When you need a hug they’re there. When you’re crying because you drank too much alcohol and your family is just too cute they’re there. They’re the best and worst of people but they will always be yours. And they’re pretty good for all hating your awful dad. 

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry, this is kind of garbage. I've had an interesting month and I just wanted to write something cute I guess.


End file.
